Democracy is good for the heart, health and longevity, according to a major study that has included 170 countries, in a boost to a form of government that has faced major setbacks around the world in recent years .
The researchers found that life expectancy improved the fastest in countries that switched to democracy in the past 50 years, and there were fewer deaths from cardiovascular diseases, diseases such as cancer and cirrhosis, and even fewer traffic accidents.
The study, published in The Lancet magazine, stated that it was not just that democracies tended to be richer: the “democracy effect” was much stronger than any effect of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
“Free and fair elections seem important to improve the health of adults; most likely it will increase the responsibility and responsiveness of the government”, comment the authors of the work. “Democracies are more likely than autocracies to achieve health benefits.”
The report comes at a time when democracy is being challenged, probably like never before. Most of the world’s population lives in democracies, but more than two billion people live in countries where democracy has receded in recent years, such as India, Turkey, Brazil, and the United States itself.
Rising populism testifies to disillusionment across much of the democratic world, and the relative success of autocracies from China to Rwanda, and Vietnam to Singapore, has raised questions about whether political freedom is the best system of government for all.
The study concludes that, when it comes to health, it is.
The researchers used existing measures of democratic experience compiled in the V-Dem database and represented them based on a number of metrics, such as public health spending and disease outcomes. They then compared trends in countries that had transitioned from autocracy to democracy since 1970 with 55 states that had not. Among other things , the impact of HIV was taken into account, as the huge amount of foreign aid dedicated to the virus would have altered the findings.
The conclusions were overwhelming
Life expectancy at 15 years was 3% higher in countries , 10 years after their transition to democracy, compared to countries that had not changed the type of government. Cardiovascular disease, tuberculosis, transportation injuries, and noncommunicable diseases also fell as democracy took hold.
These four health hazards cause a quarter of all deaths and disabilities in people under the age of 70 in low- and middle-income countries. The implication of further democratization in the autocratic world is clear.
“We estimate that between 1994 and 2014, the increased democratic experience resulted in 16 million fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease worldwide,” the researchers said.
If China had undergone the same democratic transition that a country like Poland achieved during that period, it would have saved 10 million lives of people who died from that disease.
Researchers believe that free societies achieve better results not because of prosperity but because of public pressure. “Countries where the government is not subject to a free and fair democracy do not have the same pressure from voters to offer better health services,” they clarify.
The study is the largest of its kind to establish such a broad correlation between democracy and adult health. The work was done by the US Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. It was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Referencia: The relationships between democratic experience, adult health, and cause-specific mortality in 170 countries between 1980 and 2016: an observational analysis. Thomas J Bollyky, Tara Templin, Matthew Cohen, Diana Schoder, Joseph L Dieleman, Simon Wigley. Open Access Published: March 13, 2019 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30235-1
